This publication provides the number of personal-injury road traffic accidents in Great Britain that were reported by the police in 2017 using the STATS19 reporting system. It also includes the number of people killed or injured in these accidents and which road user group they were in.

The figures make up part of a long running series going back to 1926. The current set of definitions and detail of information goes back to 1979, providing a long period for comparison.

The information used to create these statistics are collected by police forces, either through officers attending the scene of accidents or from members of the public reporting the accident in police stations after the incident.

All accidents that were reported by the police and that occurred on a public highway involving at least one motor vehicle, horse rider or pedal cyclist, and where at least one person was injured are included. Accidents that happened on private land (including private drives) or car parks are not included in the statistics. Damage only accidents that do not result in personal injury are also excluded from these statistics.

This publication provides the number of personal-injury road traffic accidents in Great Britain that were reported by the police in 2016 using the STATS19 reporting system. It also includes the number of people killed or injured in these accidents and which road user group they were in.

The figures make up part of a long running series going back to 1926. The current set of definitions and detail of information goes back to 1979, providing a long period for comparison.

The information used to create these statistics are collected by police forces, either through officers attending the scene of accidents or from members of the public reporting the accident in police stations after the incident.

Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain (RRCGB) Annual Report: 2015 presents detailed statistics about the circumstances of personal injury accidents, including the types of vehicles involved, the resulting casualties and factors which may contribute to accidents. In addition to detailed tables there are three articles containing further analysis on specific road safety topics.

Most of the statistics in the report are based on information about accidents reported to the police. However, other sources such as mortality, survey and hospital data are also used as well as population and traffic data to provide a wider context.

Key findings:

There were 1,730 reported road deaths in 2015, a decrease of 3 per cent compared with 2014. This is the second lowest annual total on record after 2013. There were 45 per cent fewer fatalities in 2015 than a decade earlier in 2006.

The number of people seriously injured in reported road traffic accidents decreased by 3 per cent to 22,144 in 2015, compared with 2014.

There was a total of 186,189 casualties of all severities in 2015. This is around 4 per cent lower than in 2014 and the second lowest level on record.

Vehicle traffic levels increased by 1.6 per cent between 2014 and 2015.

In the last 30 years Great Britain’s population has grown by 15 per cent (8.1 million people). Despite this growth in population, road fatalities have fallen by 68 per cent (3,655 deaths).

There were an estimated 4,860 clinically seriously injured (MAIS3+) casualties in road traffic accidents in the UK in 2015. This has remained relatively unchanged over 1999 to 2015.

The total value of prevention of reported road accidents in 2015 was estimated to be £15.3 billion - this includes an estimate of the cost of damage only accidents.

The Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain (RRCGB) Annual Report: 2014 presents detailed statistics (headline figures were first published in June 2015) about the circumstances of personal injury accidents, including the types of vehicles involved, the resulting casualties and factors which may contribute to accidents. In addition to detailed tables there are three articles containing further analysis on specific road safety topics.

Most of the statistics in the report are based on information about accidents reported to the police. However, other sources such as mortality, survey and hospital data are also used as well as population and traffic data to provide a wider context.

Key findings:

There were 1,775 reported road deaths in 2014, an increase of 4 percent compared with 2013. This is the third lowest year on record behind 2012 and 2013. However, this rise is not statistically significant.

The number of people seriously injured in reported road traffic accidents increased by 5 per cent to 22,807 in 2014. A total of 194,477 people were killed or injured in reported road accidents in 2014, the first increase in overall casualties since 1997.

Traffic levels in 2014 were 2.4 per cent higher than in 2013. This would have lead to an increased exposure for road users. A statistical model has indicated that had the weather throughout 2014 been closer to the long term average then there may have been around 40 fewer fatalities during the year.

When adjusted for the weather, the number of fatalities would have risen by 1 per cent from 2013 to 2014. Once an adjustment is made for the weather for all years back to 1991, the small rise in fatalities in 2014 is the first rise since 2003.

The most common factor which contributed to accidents in 2014 was drivers failing to look properly. This factor has remained the most frequently occurring one since 2005, when contributory factors were first introduced.

In 2014/15 around 6.2 per cent of drivers said that they had probably driven whilst over the legal alcohol limit and 0.9 per cent of drivers thought that they had driven under the influence of illegal drugs in the last year. These proportions are not significantly different from those reported for 2013/14.

The Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain (RRCGB) Annual Report: 2013 presents detailed statistics (headline figures were first published in June 2014) about the circumstances of personal injury accidents, including the types of vehicles involved, the resulting casualties and factors which may contribute to accidents. In addition to detailed tables there are three articles containing further analysis on specific road safety topics.

Most of the statistics in the report are based on information about accidents reported to the police. However, other sources such as mortality, survey and hospital data are also used as well as population and traffic data to provide a wider context.

In addition to detailed tables there are three articles containing further analysis on specific road safety topics.